utorrent is eating my memory

[Kor1134]

Lots of topics on issues like this, but I can't get an answer out of any of them.

Recently, uTorrent v1.8.4 started crashing, a window opens asking if I want to submit a crash dump, restart uTorrent, or neither. Scanned my comp for malware and found "Malware Packer", and cleaned it. uTorrent stopped crashing but it still hangs from time to time, leaving the tray icon unresponsive. So I installed v1.8.5. No change. I also noticed uTorrent memory usage in Task Manager sky-rocketing, WAAAAAYYYYY above the normal 5MB I'm used to seeing. It just climbs until there's no memory left and uTorrent freezes, although Windows and all other programs are fine. Also, with Task Manager open, while torrents are active, memory usage climbs but when I minimize the uTorrent window, memory usage drops to about 2 MB and starts climbing all over again. What's going on...I've been using this software for over a year now, default settings have worked just fine, until now. I've tried adjusting cache settings and such but I'm not making any progress.

Please, if someone has any ideas, please share them with me.

Thanks!

[moogly]

Post Hijackthis and Process Explorer when uT is running.

Select utorrent.exe and enable DLL mode (ctrl+d) in Proc. Exp.

Guide: http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=29748

And what's the max UL speed of your ADSL line?

Plus screenshot of Preferences > Advanced > Disk Cache.

Host here: http://www.imageshack.us/

[Kor1134]

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2

Scan saved at 11:41:43 AM, on 11/24/2009

Platform: Windows XP SP3 (WinNT 5.01.2600)

MSIE: Internet Explorer v8.00 (8.00.6001.18702)

Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:

C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe

C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe

C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe

C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe

C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe

C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe

C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe

C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe

C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe

C:\Program Files\AVG9\avgchsvx.exe

C:\Program Files\AVG9\avgrsx.exe

C:\Program Files\AVG9\avgcsrvx.exe

C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe

C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE

C:\Program Files\AVG9\avgwdsvc.exe

C:\WINDOWS\System32\cisvc.exe

C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jqs.exe

C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NvMixer\NVMixerTray.exe

C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\MOM.exe

C:\PROGRA~1\AVG9\avgtray.exe

C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jusched.exe

C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe

C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe

C:\Program Files\AVG9\avgemc.exe

C:\Program Files\AVG9\avgnsx.exe

C:\Program Files\AVG9\avgcsrvx.exe

C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\ccc.exe

C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe

C:\WINDOWS\system32\cidaemon.exe

C:\Program Files\Avant Browser\avant.exe

C:\Program Files\uTorrent\uTorrent.exe

C:\Program Files\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896

R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157

O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll

O2 - BHO: WormRadar.com IESiteBlocker.NavFilter - {3CA2F312-6F6E-4B53-A66E-4E65E497C8C0} - C:\Program Files\AVG9\avgssie.dll

O2 - BHO: Spybot-S&D IE Protection - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll

O2 - BHO: Java Plug-In 2 SSV Helper - {DBC80044-A445-435b-BC74-9C25C1C588A9} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jp2ssv.dll

O2 - BHO: JQSIEStartDetectorImpl - {E7E6F031-17CE-4C07-BC86-EABFE594F69C} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\deploy\jqs\ie\jqs_plugin.dll

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [KernelFaultCheck] %systemroot%\system32\dumprep 0 -k

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NVMixerTray] "C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NvMixer\NVMixerTray.exe"

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [startCCC] "C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\CLIStart.exe" MSRun

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CloneCDElbyCDFL] "D:\Program Files\CloneCD\ElbyCheck.exe" /L ElbyCDFL

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (reboot)] "C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\mbam.exe" /runcleanupscript

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG9_TRAY] C:\PROGRA~1\AVG9\avgtray.exe

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [sunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jusched.exe"

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe Reader Speed Launcher] "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Reader\Reader_sl.exe"

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [spybotSD TeaTimer] C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe

O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions present

O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel present

O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll

O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Spybot - Search & Destroy Configuration - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll

O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe

O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: @xpsp3res.dll,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe

O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe

O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe

O16 - DPF: {17492023-C23A-453E-A040-C7C580BBF700} (Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool) - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=39204

O16 - DPF: {6414512B-B978-451D-A0D8-FCFDF33E833C} (WUWebControl Class) - http://www.update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/V5Controls/en/x86/client/wuweb_site.cab?1233081088411

O16 - DPF: {DF780F87-FF2B-4DF8-92D0-73DB16A1543A} (PopCapLoader Object) - http://www.popcap.com/webgames/popcaploader_v10.cab

O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\..\{3D10613F-741C-4A3C-9B7B-6C45466EC62E}: NameServer = 208.67.222.222,208.67.220.220

O18 - Protocol: linkscanner - {F274614C-63F8-47D5-A4D1-FBDDE494F8D1} - C:\Program Files\AVG9\avgpp.dll

O20 - Winlogon Notify: avgrsstarter - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\avgrsstx.dll

O23 - Service: Ati HotKey Poller - ATI Technologies Inc. - C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe

O23 - Service: AVG Free E-mail Scanner (avg9emc) - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - C:\Program Files\AVG9\avgemc.exe

O23 - Service: AVG Free WatchDog (avg9wd) - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - C:\Program Files\AVG9\avgwdsvc.exe

O23 - Service: Java Quick Starter (JavaQuickStarterService) - Sun Microsystems, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jqs.exe

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Process PID CPU Description Company Name

System Idle Process 0 89.23

Interrupts n/a Hardware Interrupts

DPCs n/a 1.54 Deferred Procedure Calls

System 4 1.54

smss.exe 764 Windows NT Session Manager Microsoft Corporation

csrss.exe 816 Client Server Runtime Process Microsoft Corporation

winlogon.exe 872 Windows NT Logon Application Microsoft Corporation

services.exe 960 1.54 Services and Controller app Microsoft Corporation

ati2evxx.exe 1192 ATI External Event Utility EXE Module ATI Technologies Inc.

svchost.exe 1224 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 1360 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 1456 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 1580 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 1904 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 1996 1.54 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation

spoolsv.exe 312 Spooler SubSystem App Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 1436 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation

avgwdsvc.exe 1764 AVG Watchdog Service AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o.

avgnsx.exe 2776 AVG Network scanner Service AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o.

cisvc.exe 1944 Content Index service Microsoft Corporation

cidaemon.exe 2904 Indexing Service filter daemon Microsoft Corporation

jqs.exe 2096 1.54 Java Quick Starter Service Sun Microsystems, Inc.

avgemc.exe 2712 AVG E-Mail Scanner AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o.

avgcsrvx.exe 3288 AVG Scanning Core Module - Server Part AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o.

alg.exe 3992 Application Layer Gateway Service Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 3708 Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation

lsass.exe 980 LSA Shell (Export Version) Microsoft Corporation

ati2evxx.exe 1556 ATI External Event Utility EXE Module ATI Technologies Inc.

avgchsvx.exe 1628 AVG Cache Server AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o.

avgrsx.exe 1732 AVG Resident Shield Service AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o.

avgcsrvx.exe 204 AVG Scanning Core Module - Server Part AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o.

explorer.exe 632 Windows Explorer Microsoft Corporation

NvMixerTray.exe 2332 NVIDIA nForce Mixer Tray Application NVIDIA Corporation

avgtray.exe 2572 AVG Tray Monitor AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o.

jusched.exe 2580 Java Platform SE binary Sun Microsystems, Inc.

ctfmon.exe 2600 CTF Loader Microsoft Corporation

TeaTimer.exe 2656 1.54 System settings protector Safer-Networking Ltd.

avant.exe 3416 Avant Browser Avant Force

uTorrent.exe 4064 1.54 µTorrent BitTorrent, Inc.

MOM.exe 2536 Catalyst Control Center: Monitoring program Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

CCC.exe 1356 Catalyst Control Centre: Host application ATI Technologies Inc.

procexp.exe 3648 Sysinternals Process Explorer Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com

Process: uTorrent.exe Pid: 4064

Name Description Company Name Version

ACTIVEDS.dll ADs Router Layer DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

adsldpc.dll ADs LDAP Provider C DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

ADVAPI32.dll Advanced Windows 32 Base API Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5755

ATL.DLL ATL Module for Windows XP (Unicode) Microsoft Corporation 3.5.2284.2

CLBCATQ.DLL Microsoft Corporation 2001.12.4414.700

COMCTL32.dll User Experience Controls Library Microsoft Corporation 6.0.2900.5512

comdlg32.dll Common Dialogs DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.0.2900.5512

COMRes.dll Microsoft Corporation 2001.12.4414.700

credui.dll Credential Manager User Interface Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

CRYPT32.dll Crypto API32 Microsoft Corporation 5.131.2600.5512

ctype.nls

DnsApi.dll DNS Client API DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5625

dot3api.dll 802.3 Autoconfiguration API Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

dot3dlg.dll 802.3 UI Helper Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

eappcfg.dll Eap Peer Config Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

eappprxy.dll Microsoft EAPHost Peer Client DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

GDI32.dll GDI Client DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5698

hnetcfg.dll Home Networking Configuration Manager Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

iertutil.dll Run time utility for Internet Explorer Microsoft Corporation 8.0.6001.18828

IMM32.DLL Windows XP IMM32 API Client DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

Iphlpapi.dll IP Helper API Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

kernel32.dll Windows NT BASE API Client DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5781

locale.nls

MPRAPI.dll Windows NT MP Router Administration DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

MSASN1.dll ASN.1 Runtime APIs Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5875

MSCTF.dll MSCTF Server DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

msctfime.ime Microsoft Text Frame Work Service IME Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

msi.dll Windows Installer Microsoft Corporation 3.1.4001.5512

MSVCP60.dll Microsoft ® C++ Runtime Library Microsoft Corporation 6.2.3104.0

msvcrt.dll Windows NT CRT DLL Microsoft Corporation 7.0.2600.5512

mswsock.dll Microsoft Windows Sockets 2.0 Service Provider Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5625

msxml3.dll MSXML 3.0 SP10 Microsoft Corporation 8.100.1048.0

msxml3r.dll XML Resources Microsoft Corporation 8.20.8730.1

netapi32.dll Net Win32 API DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5694

netshell.dll Network Connections Shell Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

Normaliz.dll Unicode Normalization DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.0.5441.0

ntdll.dll NT Layer DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5755

ole32.dll Microsoft OLE for Windows Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

oleaut32.dll Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

OneX.DLL IEEE 802.1X supplicant library Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

rasadhlp.dll Remote Access AutoDial Helper Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

RPCRT4.dll Remote Procedure Call Runtime Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5795

rsaenh.dll Microsoft Enhanced Cryptographic Provider Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5507

rtutils.dll Routing Utilities Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

SAMLIB.dll SAM Library DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

Secur32.dll Security Support Provider Interface Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5834

SETUPAPI.dll Windows Setup API Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

SHELL32.dll Windows Shell Common Dll Microsoft Corporation 6.0.2900.5622

shfolder.dll Shell Folder Service Microsoft Corporation 6.0.2900.5512

SHLWAPI.dll Shell Light-weight Utility Library Microsoft Corporation 6.0.2900.5512

sortkey.nls

sorttbls.nls

SSDPAPI.dll SSDP Client API DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

SXS.DLL Fusion 2.5 Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

unicode.nls

upnp.dll Universal Plug and Play API Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

urlmon.dll OLE32 Extensions for Win32 Microsoft Corporation 8.0.6001.18828

USER32.dll Windows XP USER API Client DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

USERENV.dll Userenv Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

uTorrent.exe µTorrent BitTorrent, Inc. 1.8.5.17091

uxtheme.dll Microsoft UxTheme Library Microsoft Corporation 6.0.2900.5512

VERSION.dll Version Checking and File Installation Libraries Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

WINHTTP.dll Windows HTTP Services Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5727

WININET.dll Internet Extensions for Win32 Microsoft Corporation 8.0.6001.18828

WINSTA.dll Winstation Library Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

WLDAP32.dll Win32 LDAP API DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

WS2_32.dll Windows Socket 2.0 32-Bit DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

WS2HELP.dll Windows Socket 2.0 Helper for Windows NT Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

wship6.dll IPv6 Helper DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

wshtcpip.dll Windows Sockets Helper DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

WTSAPI32.dll Windows Terminal Server SDK APIs Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

xpsp2res.dll Service Pack 2 Messages Microsoft Corporation 5.1.2600.5512

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http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/2256/utcache.jpg

[Firon]

You don't have the NVIDIA firewall installed, do you?

[Kor1134]

Only Windows Firewall, plus my router and modem. I use Spybot w/TeaTimer, Malwarebytes', and AVG 9 Free, all up-to-date. I have a memory utility that flushes physical RAM every 30 minutes, though it hasn't caused any problems before now.

I tried some other torrent clients (BitTorrent 6.3, Azureus/Vuze) and the same thing happened. Also a game that I've been playing a lot in the last few weeks started crashing during startup this weekend. Now I don't think uTorrent is the only thing being affected, but it is odd to me that whatever is wrong with my comp ONLY affects torrent clients and Hellgate London on my machine. All scans consistently report no malware/virus', no apparent problems with my HDDs as reported by Windows autochk and I defrag my drives maybe once or twice a month. I'm not looking forward to formatting my system...again...but I'm running out of options.

As always, comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[BeKindRewind]

Kor1134 - I was experiencing EXACTLY the same problem as you in µTorrent 1.8.5, but I seem to have resolved it, at least temporarily.

µTorrent worked absolutely fine until I had to do a complete reinstall of XP recently. I only went online at home a month or two ago, and before the big crash of my system I had not downloaded any of the XP updates (my computer dates from around 2006, not sure if it was Service Pack 1 or 2 - like so many folks, I never really paid much attention until I lost everything!). After reinstall I downloaded every available update, installed the full version of AVG (version 9.0.709), then downloaded my favouritest ever BitTorrent client, the marvellous µTorrent.

But when I started using it, µTorrent would work ok for an indefinite amount of time then freeze. I would have to end the process with Task Manager. On closer inspection, I soon noticed that µTorrent's memory usage was gradually (sometimes swiftly) rising... and rising... and rising...

I read in this forum that some Anti-Virus software could conflict with µTorrent, so I completely uninstalled AVG and tried again. Same problem occurred. Memory usage would balloon to anywhere between about 250-400Mb (out of my 960Mb total physical memory) before freezing µTorrent.

Also read about Disk Cache issues and tried every possible combination of preferences. Same problem occurred every time. Minimising µTorrent would drop the memory usage right down, but it would rocket back up again in no time.

After attempting various other fixes to no avail, I got hold of the full version of iolo's System Mechanic (version 9.0.5) and ran a number of it's system diagnostic and repair tools (including Internet Connection Optimizer). And I'm not sure exactly which of the tools did it, but lo and behold... µTorrent's working again! Hurrah!

On my first successful attempt, the memory usage did go up slightly higher than usual - to about 40Mb. It then began to gradually drop, and it now seems (touch wood!) to be stable at 17-30Mb.

System Specs:

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Version 2002

Service Pack 3

Packard Bell

AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3700+

2.19 GHz

960Mb Ram

HijackThis & Process Explorer logs while fault was occurring:

http://www.filefactory.com/file/a1e9aca/n/uTorrent_before.txt

HijackThis & Process Explorer logs now:

http://www.filefactory.com/file/a1e9acb/n/uTorrent_after.txt

Kor1134, get hold of System Mechanic and give it a go!

Hope this helps. Peace.

[Kor1134]

Thanks for the tip, I'll try it in the future. For now, I've partitioned, formatted, and re-installed windows and everything is back to normal again, even my games are working flawlessly now.